Clark Kent's Christmas Carol
by Daniel Fielder
Summary: When Malcolm Merlyn is visited by the spirit of his old business partner, Hugo Strange, he must change his ways or be condemned. Yes, this is another Christmas Carol fic.
1. Strange's Ghost

Another Smallville-Disney mash-up, and this time, a certain industrialist is the hero.

Disclaimer: Mickey's Christmas Carol belongs to Walt Disney, and Smallville and Arrow belongs to Warner Brothers, and the characters from that and any other DC character I use belongs to DC Comics.

* * *

 **Clark's Christmas Carol  
** Chapter 1: Strange's Ghost

In Metropolis, on Christmas Eve, the stingiest man in town, Malcolm Merlyn, walked down the street. There was no Christmas cheer in his heart though. Merlyn hated the whole idea of Christmas. As he walked, he passed a homeless man as he outstretched his hand.  
"Give a penny for the poor sir." The man said. "Penny for the poor."  
"Bah." Merlyn said simply before continuing to his counting house, Merlyn & Strange. Merlyn never bothered to paint out Strange's name.  
"My partner Hugo Strange." Merlyn said calmly. "Dead seven years today. He was a good businessman. He robbed from the widows and swindled the poor."  
Merlyn looked at the sign and smirked.  
"In his will he left me enough money for his tombstone, and I had him buried at sea." Merlyn chuckled to himself.

Inside the store, Merlyn's bookman, Clark Kent, was about to put a thing of coal in the fire while Merlyn was out when he came in.  
"Oh... Uh..." Clark said nervously. "Good morning Mr. Merlyn."  
"Kent, what are you doing with that piece of coal?!" Merlyn asked angrily.  
"I was just trying to thaw out the ink, sir." Clark said timidly as he pointed to the ice covered ink quill.  
"You used a piece last week!" Merlyn snapped as he grabbed the coal and tossed it in a bucket. "Now get on with your work, Kent!"  
"Speaking of work Mr. Merlyn tomorrow is Christmas, and I was wondering if I could have... Half the day off?"  
"Christmas." Merlyn spat angrily as he thought. "Mm... Oh, I suppose so, but I'll dock you half a day's pay. Now let's see... I pay you two dollars a day."  
"Uh, two dollars and a quarter, sir." Clark corrected.  
"Oh right." Merlyn said. "I gave you that raise three years ago."  
"Yes sir." Clark said. "When I started doing your laundry."  
"Alright Kent, get busy while I go over my books, oh and I've got another bundle of shirts for you." Merlyn said as he tossed a moderately large laundry bag at Clark.  
"Yes sir." Clark said quickly.  
Merlyn then sat down and went over his notes as a large amount of money sat in front of him.  
"Now let's see..." Merlyn mused. "One hundred and twelve dollars from Fine, plus his eighty-percent interest, compounded daily..."  
Merlyn laughed as he played a little with a few coins.  
"Money, money, money."  
Then the door opened, and Merlyn's nephew and only living relative, Oliver Queen came in.  
"Merry Christmas!" Oliver called out.  
"And a merry Christmas to you, Ollie." Clark said as he took a break from his books to talk to Oliver.  
"Bah humbug." Merlyn muttered.  
"Merry Christmas, Uncle Malcolm!" Oliver called out with a smile.  
"What's so merry about it?" Merlyn asked moodily. "I'll tell you what Christmas is, it's just another work day, and any jackanapes who thinks else should be boiled in his own pudding!"  
"Ew." Oliver remarked.  
"But sir Christmas is a time for giving." Clark said quickly. "A time to be with one's family."  
"I say 'Bah humbug.'" Merlyn said stubbornly.  
"I don't care!" Oliver called out. "I say 'Merry Christmas!'"  
"Well said Ollie!" Clark called out as he applauded.  
"Kent, what are you doing?!" Merlyn asked angrily.  
"Uh..." Clark said nervously as he stopped clapping. "Just trying to keep my hands warm, sir."  
"And what are you doing here, Nephew?" Merlyn asked testily.  
"I've come to give you a reef and invite you to Christmas dinner." Oliver said as he handed Merlyn the reef.  
"Well..." Merlyn said with a smile. "I suppose you're going to have plump goose with chestnut dressing?"  
"Yup." Oliver confirmed.  
"And will you have plum pudding and lemon sauce?" Merlyn continued.  
"Oh yeah!" Oliver said with a widening smile.  
"And spiced sugar cakes with candied fruit?" Merlyn finished.  
"Yes!" Oliver said excitedly. "Yes! Will you come?"  
"Are you insane?" Merlyn snapped. "You know I can't eat that stuff, now get out!"  
"Alright." Oliver said as he put the reef on the door. "Merry Christmas!"  
"And a bah humbug to you!" Merlyn shouted back, but Oliver had already left.  
"That Ollie." Clark said with a chuckle. "Always so full of kindness."  
"Yeah." Merlyn said. "He always was a little peculiar." The door opened again. "And stubborn!"  
Instead of Merlyn, a very well built man was there with a man with black hair walked in.  
"Oh, customers." Merlyn said with an excited smile. "I'll handle this, Kent."  
Merlyn then walked up to the two.  
"Yes, what can I do for you two gentlemen?" Lex asked.  
"Sir, I'm John Jones, and this is my associate, Bruce Wayne." Mr. Jones said. "We are soliciting funds for the impudent and destitute."  
"For the what?" Merlyn asked.  
"We're collecting money for the poor." Bruce translated.  
"Oh..." Merlyn said. "Well, you do realize that if you give money to the poor, they won't be poor anymore."  
"Well that's true." Bruce said.  
"And if they're not poor anymore, then you won't have to raise money for them anymore." Merlyn went on, putting on a concerned front.  
"Well, I suppose." Mr. Jones admitted.  
"And if you don't have to raise money for them anymore, then you would be out of a job." Merlyn said as he opened the door, and the two walked out. "Oh please gentlemen, don't ask me to put you out of a job, not on Christmas Eve."  
"Oh, we'd never do that, Mr. Merlyn." Mr. Jones said.  
"Well then," Merlyn finished, going back to his normal manner at once. "I suggest you give this to the poor and be gone!"  
He tossed the wreath Oliver had given him at Bruce who caught it reflexively and slammed the door in their faces.  
"What's this world coming to, Kent?" Merlyn asked as Clark turned to listen. "You work all your life to get money, and people want you to give it away."

As the day came to its end, Clark used a nearby lamp to keep himself warm, which wasn't too easy. He then glanced over at the clock and smiled when he saw that it was only fifteen seconds until quitting time. Finishing up his last sentence, he closed the book and got ready to head home.  
"Two minutes fast." Merlyn remarked as Clark gulped and was about to get back to work when Merlyn stopped him. "Eh, never mind those two minutes. You can go now."  
"Thank you, sir!" Clark said as he hopped down. "You're so kind-"  
"Never mind the mushy stuff!" Merlyn shouted. "Just go, but be here all the earlier the next afternoon!"  
"I will!" Clark said excitedly. "I will sir, and a bah hum- I mean, a merry Christmas to you sir!"  
Clark then picked up the bag of Merlyn's shirts and walked off as all Merlyn said in reply was, "Bah."

At nine at night, Merlyn closed up the counting house and walked off to his house, which had once belonged to Strange. As Merlyn unlocked the door, he looked at the knocker just as it turned into Hugo Strange's face. With the same glasses and beard.  
"Merlyn..." Strange said in an eerie voice.  
"Hugo Strange?" Merlyn asked in shock. "No, that can't be!"  
Thinking he was just wearied from a good day's work, he touched the knocker's nose, and exclaimed in a way that frightened Merlyn so badly, he ran into the house. After catching his breath, he put what had happened off as stress with all the fools he had to deal with that day. He then began to walk upstairs when he heard footsteps coming up behind him. He turned, but no one was there. He went on, and again he heard the footsteps. He turned around again, but still no one was there. He looked down from the stairway, but nothing was there either. He walked on when he heard the footsteps for a third time and turned to see a shadow of a bald man with the profile of Strange. Merlyn shouted in shock and terror and rushed to his living room, bolting the door and hiding in his seat.  
"Malcolm Merlyn..." Strange's voice called out from the other side of the door.  
"GO AWAY!" Merlyn shouted as a blue-white, transparent version of Hugo Strange walked in. Aside from his usually lab coat and gloves, Strange also wore a long chain with cash boxes and safes attached to it.  
"Malcolm Mer-AHH!" Strange explained as he tripped on a lose rug and ended up landing right next to his chair.  
"A bit more hazardous here than I remember." Strange said calmly as he got up and looked at Merlyn, apparently noticing a look of terror.  
"Merlyn, don't you recognize me?" Strange asked. "In life I was your partner, Hugo Strange."  
Merlyn hadn't wanted to believe it, but looking at Strange's face, he was forced to, and that actually helped to calm him down a little.  
"Strange, it is you." Merlyn said as his eyes widened.  
"Malcolm," Strange said as he stood straight up. "Remember when I was alive, I robbed the widows and swindled the poor?"  
"Yes, and all on the same day." Merlyn said with a smile at the memories. "Oh, you had class Hugo."  
"Yup." Strange said with a smug look before shaking his head. "Wait, no! No! I was wrong, and so as punishment, I'm forced to carry these chains for eternity! ... Maybe even longer. With no hope. I'm doomed! Doomed!"  
Strange then turned his face to Merlyn.  
"And the same thing will happen to you, Malcolm Merlyn."  
"No!" Merlyn gasped in fear as he recoiled from the chains that were close by his chair. "No it can't! It mustn't! Help me, Hugo!"  
"Tonight, you will be visited by three spirits." Strange informed Merlyn. "Listen to them, and do what they say, or your chains will be heavier than mine."  
Merlyn agreed nervously as he turned nervously around.  
"Farewell Malcolm..." Strange called out as he walked back, making sure to be mindful of the rug. "Farewell . . ."  
"Strange!" Merlyn called out as he remembered something about the stairway. "Watch out for that first-"  
There were several loud screams and grunts as Hugo Strange's ghost fell down the stairs.  
"Step." Merlyn finished before going off to bed.

* * *

Spooky, huh?


	2. The First of the Spirits

Chapter Two: The First of the Spirits

That night, Merlyn searched his room all over with a candle before putting it on the table.  
"Spirits." He scoffed. He'd obviously been stressed as he got into bed and blew out his candle. "Humbug!"  
Merlyn then went to sleep without undressing.

As Merlyn slept, a lovely woman walked up. Her hair was blond, and she was dressed in a long white dress that exposed her shoulders. She starred at the fireplace, and the fire came on. She then rang the bell on the clock, which read two o'clock, but Merlyn continued sleeping.  
"Oh boy." The woman groaned. She rang the bell again, and Merlyn got up.  
"Oh, what?" Lex asked.  
"Well it's about time." The woman said. "Haven't got all night, you know."  
"Who... Who are you?" Merlyn asked in surprise.  
"I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past." The woman said. "You can call me Lara for short."  
"I would think someone like you would look a little older." Merlyn observed.  
"Well Malcolm, if men were aged by kindness, you'd be no older than a new-born babe." Lara retorted calmly.  
"Kindness is of little use in this world." Merlyn said as he prepared to go back to sleep.  
"You didn't always think so." Lara said. "Come on, Malcolm, it's time to go."  
"Then go." Lex said agitatedly when Lara walked to a window, and opened it.  
"Lara!" Merlyn called out in alarm. "What are you doing?!"  
"We're going to visit your past." Lara explained.  
"I'm not going out there." Merlyn countered. "I'll fall."  
"Take my hand, and you'll be lifted." Lara said, as Merlyn apprehensively took Lara's hand, and they were flying above Metropolis in an instant, having a wild ride.

They stopped at a small shop.  
"Lara, I think I know this place." Merlyn mused. "Yes! It's old Lewis Lang's! I couldn't have worked for a kinder man."  
Inside the shop, Lewis, alive again, was dancing with his wife and several others.  
"Why it's old Lang himself!" Merlyn exclaimed. "And all of my very dearest friends!"  
Merlyn then turned to a shy boy who looked very slim.  
"And that shy boy in the corner, that's me." Merlyn remarked.  
"Yes." Lara said. "Before you became a miserable miser consumed by greed."  
"Well nobody's perfect." Merlyn defended before looking at a brown haired girl with green eyes. "There she is. There's lovely Dinah."

Dinah walked up to the younger Malcolm.  
"Malcolm?" Dinah asked. "Malcolm."  
"Yes, Dinah?" Malcolm asked nervously as Dinah pulled him under the mistletoe.  
"My eyes are closed, my lips are puckered, and I'm standing under the mistletoe." Dinah said.  
"You're also standing on my foot." Malcolm pointed out before Dinah chuckled, and they began dancing with everybody as Malcolm smiled. The dance ended with Dinah kissing Malcolm's cheek, and his mind went to mush.

"Oh, I remember how much I was in love with her." Merlyn said nostalgically when there was a sudden wind, and the entire area became darkened.  
"In ten years' time, you learned to love something else." Lara said as Lex looked around and found himself in a very familiar place.  
"It's my counting house!" Merlyn said in surprise.  
"Yes." Lara said. "You had just formed your partnership with Strange. Your business was new, but your ways were set."  
"Oh, please!" Merlyn said as he suddenly remembered the day. "Spare me the rest!"  
"You have to drain the cup to the dregs for this trip to do good." Lara said. "Recall how you drove love from your heart and replaced it with the worship of money."

"Nine-thousand four-hundred and forty two." Malcolm said as he put a coin on top of a large pile from several foreclosures and debt payments. "Nine-thou-"  
"Malcolm?" Dinah asked from behind the pile of coins.  
"Yes, what is it?" Malcolm asked.  
"For years I've had the honeymoon cottage Malcolm." Dinah said. "I've been waiting for you to keep your promise to marry me. Now I must know; have you made your decision?"  
"I have!" Malcolm said finally as he pulled out the mortgage paper of the cottage. "Your last payment on the cottage was an hour late! I'm foreclosing the mortgage!"

Merlyn watched Dinah burst into tears and walk away.  
Go after her you young fool! Merlyn called out angrily at his past self.  
"You loved your money more than that precious girl, and you lost her forever." Lara reminded him as a look of anger crossed Dinah's face as she closed the door, causing the pile of gold to crash down on the table.  
"Please spirit." Merlyn moaned. "I can no longer bare these memories. Take me home."  
"Remember Malcolm." Lara said as the scene, and Lara, was beginning to fade away. "You fashioned these memories yourself..."

* * *

Wow. Talk about a dumb choice, huh?


	3. The Second of the Spirits

Chapter Three: The Second of the Spirits

Back on Merlyn's own bed, he still brooded about his mistakes.  
"Why was I so foolish?" Merlyn asked himself. "Why? Why?"  
Suddenly, a light shone in through his curtains, and he looked on in surprise.  
"What's this?" Merlyn asked as he looked through the curtains to see a blond man in a white robe and outfit with a black S shape on his chest.  
"Hello." The man said.  
Merlyn quickly closed the curtains, and when he opened them again, he was still there.  
"Hello again." The man said again.  
"Please, let me go!" Merlyn called out in fear. "Don't kill me!"  
"Why would the Ghost of Christmas Present, that's me, you can call me Jor-El, kill a distasteful little miser like you, especially when there are so many good things to enjoy in life?"  
The man set Merlyn down, and he then noticed that the room was full of food.  
"Oh..." Merlyn said in awe. "Mince pies. Turkeys. Suckling pig. But where did all this come from?" Merlyn asked.  
"From the heart, Malcolm." Jor-El explained. "It's the food of generosity which you have long denied your fellow man."  
"Generosity?!" Merlyn asked angrily. "Nobody's ever shown me generosity!"  
"You've never given them reason to." Jor-El explained calmly. "And yet, there are those who still find enough warmth in their hearts even for the likes of you."  
"No acquaintance of mine." Merlyn said coldly. "I assure you."  
"Oh, you'll see." Jor-El said as he picked Merlyn up, lifted up Merlyn's roof and walked out, using a lamppost as a flash light to find the right house.

Eventually, Jor-El stopped and showed Merlyn an old, extremely modest farm.  
"Here we are." Jor-El said calmly.  
"Why did you bring me to this old shack?" Merlyn asked.  
"This is the home of your overworked, underpaid employee, Clark Kent." Jor-El said, pushing Merlyn up close to the window.  
Lex looked in the window and found a brown-haired woman, who could only be Kent's wife, cooking an extremely small bird.  
"What's she cooking, a canary?" Merlyn asked rhetorically. "Surely they have more food than that. Look on the fire."  
"That's your laundry." Jor-El pointed out as they looked at a bubbling pot.

Inside the Kent home, Clark's middle child, Chris, was trying to get at his presents, only to be stopped by his oldest daughter, Chloe. She looked perfectly like her mother, but with short blond hair.  
"Oh, I don't think so." Chloe said with a smile as she picked the eight-year-old up.  
"Now kids, we've gotta wait for Little Conner." Clark said calmly.  
"Daddy." Clark's youngest son, a black haired four-year-old named Conner, said. "I'm coming, Daddy."  
Clark walked up quickly to his son, hobbling down the steps on his cane, as Clark picked him up.  
"Hey little buddy." Clark said as he set Conner down while Chloe helped Clark's wife, Lois, set Chris down as well.  
"Wow, look at all the wonderful things to eat!" Conner said excitedly. "We must thank Mr. Luthor."  
"Right." Clark said kindly. "To my employer, Mr. Luthor, the founder of the feast."  
"'Feast' indeed." Lois said sadly, so only Clark could hear. "With a goose barely bigger than a canary."  
"Come on Lois, it's Christmas." Clark said kindly.  
"Oh alright." Lois said. "To Mr. Luthor."  
Conner smiled. Then, seeing that his father only had a little bit of goose, he offered Clark his piece, but Clark kindly refused and hugged his son.

"Tell me, Jor-El." Merlyn said with a pain in his heart, he'd never felt before. "What's wrong with that kind boy?"  
"Much, I'm afraid." Jor-El said. "If these shadows remain unchanged, all I can see is an empty chair where Little Conner Kent once sat and a little crutch without an owner carefully preserved."  
"Then that means..." Merlyn said weakly. "Conner will..."  
Merlyn turned around, and Jor-El had completely disappeared.  
"Jor-El, where are you?!" Merlyn called out. "Don't go! You must tell me about Conner! Don't go!"  
Suddenly, an odd black fog covered his vision as Merlyn coughed and when the fog cleared, he found himself in a graveyard.  
"How did I-?" Merlyn began before looking up and his eyes widened in fear. "Who... Who are you?"

* * *

Aw, poor Conner.


	4. The Last of the Spirits

Chapter Four: The Last of the Spirits

The figure that Merlyn saw was dressed all in black. The figure was slim but muscular with a bearded face, and stood over Merlyn, draping him in the figure's shadow.  
"Are you the ghost of Christmas Future?" Merlyn asked.  
The spirit nodded its head.  
"Please speak to me." Merlyn requested. "What will happen to Conner Kent?"  
The spirit pointed several feet away where the Kent family was. Lois was standing there solemnly as she comforted Chris, and Chloe stood there as well with tears streaming down her face. As they walked off, Clark stayed, holding the little crutch Conner had used, clutching it tight, and a tear of his own falling down his face. He then set it near the tombstone and sprinkled some dirt on the grave as Merlyn understood what had happened.  
"Oh no, dear heaven let it not be." Merlyn said as he felt for his poor clerk. "Spirit, I didn't mean for this to happen. Tell me these events can still be changed."  
Suddenly, he heard two men laughing. One had dark brown hair and very young and moderately muscular while the other had black hair, a rather plain face and middle-aged.  
"I've never seen a funeral like this before." The man with dark brown hair said.  
"Yeah." His friend said. "No mourners. No friends to bid him farewell."  
"Oh well." The first man said. "Let's rest a minute before we fill it in. He's not going anywhere."  
They walked off as Merlyn and the spirit approached the grave.  
"Whose lonely grave is this?" Merlyn asked nervously as the spirit pointed down, and Merlyn read on the tombstone his own name, "Malcolm Merlyn."  
"Why yours, Malcolm." The spirit said with a wicked grin. "The richest man in the cemetery!"  
The spirit pushed Merlyn in as he grabbed a tree root for dear life as the spirit only laughed. When Merlyn looked down, the coffin opened, and red hot fire was spilling out of it.  
"Oh no!" Merlyn called out. "No!"  
Merlyn suddenly lost his grip on the root and fell into the coffin while the spirit laughed, and Merlyn screamed, "I'll change! I'LL CHANGE...!"  
Then, all was darkness.

* * *

Well that was short sweet, and terrifying.


	5. The End of It

Chapter Five: The End of It

Merlyn was on a hard surface as he struggled with a dark object covering him.  
"Spirit!" Merlyn shouted out. "Spirit, let me out! I'll... Huh?"  
Merlyn opened his eyes and saw that he was on the floor of his own room, with the sun shining in.  
"Why I'm back in my own room." Merlyn said in surprise. He then looked outside and gasped in honest surprise. "Christmas morning! I haven't missed it! The spirits have given me another chance!"  
Merlyn quickly changed into another suit.  
"I know just what I'll do!" Merlyn said with a smile in his eyes. "They'll be so surprised."

Bruce and John were looking at children play when a very familiar figure appeared.  
"Merry Christmas to one and all!" Merlyn cried out as he walked up. "Hello, gentlemen. I'm sorry about what happened; allow me to make it up to you with this."  
Merlyn handed Bruce a bag of two hundred dollars.  
"Two hundred dollars?" John said in awe.  
"Not a penny less." Merlyn said with a smile. "I hope to see you again next year. Merry Christmas."  
"Thanks pal." Bruce said. "And a very merry Christmas to you too."

As Merlyn walked around, he bumped into Dinah, hardly aged by time and still being as lovely as when they first met all those years ago.  
"Hey Dinah." Merlyn said.  
"Malcolm." Dinah said.  
"Merry Christmas." Merlyn said.  
"... Merry Christmas." Dinah said with a smile.

All that day, Merlyn said "Merry Christmas" to everyone he saw, and some were shocked while others smiled and said it back. On the road, Merlyn ran into Oliver and his wife, Laurel.  
"Ah, Oliver." Merlyn said with a smile.  
"Uncle Malcolm?" Oliver asked blankly.  
"I'm looking forward to that wonderful meal of yours." Merlyn went on as his heart felt ten sizes bigger seeing the look of surprise and joy on Oliver's face.  
"You mean you're coming?!" Oliver asked.  
"Of course." Merlyn went on. "You know how much I love candied fruits with spiced sugar cakes. I'll be over promptly at two. Keep it piping hot, and I'm looking forward to meeting you too, dear."  
"I will Uncle Malcolm!" Oliver called out. "And a very merry Christmas to you!"  
"That's your uncle who was so moody?" Laurel asked.  
"I guess he had a change of heart." Oliver said with a smile.

"Merry Christmas, and keep the change." Merlyn said as he gave the clerk the payment for his bundle and walked out as three little children passed by, playing.  
"Wonderful lads." Merlyn said kindly. "And now for Kent."  
Merlyn arrived at Clark's house and knocked on the door, struggling to keep the stern face he'd had the previous day. Clark opened the door and starred.  
"Why Mr. Merlyn!" Clark said in surprise. "Merry Christmas. Won't you come in?"  
Merlyn entered and walked inside. The place was just like it was when he visited the previous night, save the fact that the table had been cleaned up.  
"Merry Christmas." Merlyn grunted. "I've got another bundle for you."  
"But sir, it's Christmas day." Clark said.  
"Christmas." Merlyn went on. "Just another excuse for being lazy. And another thing, Kent. I've had enough of this half-day off stuff! You leave me no alternative but to give you-"  
"Toys!" Conner called out as he opened the bundle and found the toys Merlyn had bought for Conner, and his older siblings.  
"Yes toys." Merlyn said. "No, no, no. I mean to say, I'm giving you a raise and making you my partner."  
"A partner?!" Clark said excitedly as Lois pulled out the biggest goose Merlyn could find, and they all starred at it. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Merlyn."  
"Merry Christmas, Clark." Merlyn said as he lifted Conner, holding a teddy bear, up.  
"And God bless us, everyone." Conner observed.  
Chris then played with his new toys next to Merlyn as he sat in a rocking chair while Clark, Lois, and Chloe watched on happily. This was indeed the first of many merry Christmases with Malcolm Merlyn and Conner, who with Merlyn's help got better.

* * *

Hooray Merlyn!


End file.
